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Style Q&A: Fashion writer and commentator J.J. Lee

Host of Vancouver-based CBC Radio 1 Program, Head to Toe

J.J. Lee, host of Vancouver-based CBC Radio 1 Program, Head to Toe.

Photograph by: Handout photo
, Postmedia News

Q: You’ve written a lot about fashion, including some past contributions to the pages of this paper. Refresh our readers’ memories about your background in fashion.

A: I write about fashion for ELLE Canada and about menswear for the National Post. For a number of years I presented a fashion column on CBC Radio and the big thing is I wrote a critically-acclaimed book called The Measure of A Man: The Story of a Father, a Son, and a Suit. That book was a mix of memoir and a social history of the suit.

Q: Where does your love of fashion or style come from?

A: My interest in fashion came two ways. First as a teen, I became fascinated with ELLE magazine mostly because, ahem, of the editorial shoots involving Elle Macpherson, among others. I used to look through the stack my sisters had. Through osmosis I absorbed a lot of strange ideas for an adolescent boy, like how to wear jodhpurs and the necessity of pointy lace-ups. Later, I inherited my deceased father’s suit. I researched as much as I could on suits, travelling to New York and London, to talk to people who know suits and I also became an apprentice to the Vancouver tailor Bill Wong. He’s over 90 and still runs Modernize Tailors in Chinatown.

Q: Did you have a style icon? Do you have one now?

A: The big three for me are pop artists Andy Warhol and David Hockney and the fashion designer Stefano Pilati, who heads design at Ermenegildo Zegna now. Pilati caught my attention when he was with Yves Saint Laurent. There was this one picture of him in a blazer and white pants that somehow showed me there were great possibilities of expression in the limited repertoire of the male wardrobe. You just had to figure out how to break the code and use all the elements well.

Q: How would you describe your personal style?

A: I don’t take myself too seriously. I dress to be joyful and to bring joy to others. I don’t need to look rich or powerful. It may sound like I dress like a clown but it’s more that I dress with a smile, even a laugh. I am aware of the rules and break lots of them. I avoid trends and really work at being approachable while maintaining the ability to be comfortable in ballrooms and boardrooms. Openness, authenticity and mobility, that’s what I’m after.

Q: Tell us about the radio show? How did it come about?

A: Head To Toe is a great show created from the minds of Winnipeg producers Andrew Friesen and Kaj Hasselriis. With their help, I try to look at all the clothes in our closet that we don without a thought and, well, think about them. Why do we wear what we wear? How do clothes impact our lives on a daily basis? We bring personal stories, history, and even the social science behind the clothes. I look at all of it.

Q: How do you deal with a subject that is visual in a solely audio medium?

Q: Easiest thing in the world. People talk about clothes all the time. So many dreams, aspirations, and assumptions, go into how we dress and I talk with really smart people about all of it. One of the first stories we are doing involving a Manitoban named Jillian Wolfe. Jillian decided for her wedding to convert her grad dress, a blue one, into her wedding gown. She and I had a great conversation about recycling clothes, consumption, the power of mums and the virtue of shorter hem lengths all because of a blue taffeta dress ... see no pictures required. In some ways, I think fashion is like baseball on the radio. We only to to develop the right way of talking about it to bring the game alive.

Q: Are you interested in particularly stylish people or is it just a curiosity about how certain people dress?

A: I am interested in all people who dress in a joyful way. I love colour and I love old clothes with a history. I am enthralled by people who dress to share a story and, better yet, have the words to express it. I gravitate toward the sentimental and the thoughtful dressers out there.

Q: What do think will most appeal to listeners?

A: Our debates and our personal stories. People have strong opinions about what to wear and why. And sometimes it’s backed by science. There are surprising segments which I always find illuminating insights. And then there are the stories. Man, they can be funny and heartbreaking when people share how clothes have a real impact on their lives.

Q: What is your favourite item in your wardrobe?

A: I have a pair of GWG jeans I bought around 12 years ago. I wore it for a year without washing it just to see if it would behave like raw denim. It’s moulded to my body and is falling apart with over thirty patches straining to extended its wearable life. It holds the story of my life.

Q: What’s your most recent addition to your wardrobe?

A: It’s summer. It’s seersucker. It’s a two-button coat which I wear like a jean jacket. I put it on, forget about it, and carry on my day. It’s wrinkly but it’s sharp.

Q: What’s the best piece of style advice you’ve ever received?

A: Russell Smith says to close your eyes and stuff that pocket square into your breast pocket. It almost always turns out all right. I’ve extended his simple idea into a philosophy of dress. Sometimes when people say they like what I’m wearing I have to look down to remember exactly what that is. Ironic — you need to be mindful to be stylish and then you have to let go. Put it on and forget about it. Fashion should serve as wings, not a cage.

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